November 30, 1805
73.05% Complete
Aug 30, 1803 Sep 30, 1806

November 30, 1805

 

cloudy morning    set out before sun rise and continued our rout up the bey—

S. 60 E. 1 ½ to a point.    land not very high and open    woods a little back
from the bay
S. 80 E. 3 m. to the center of a bend passing a point at 1 m. land the
〈same as in last course〉 from the commenct. of this course
S. 35 W. 2 ½ m across the bay to a point of marshey ground which for
three miles in width borders this coast—
S. 60 W 2 m. to a point of marshey ground—
S. 50 W    ¾ m. to a marshey point at arm of the bay.    from this point a
point of highland bore S. 25 E. 3 miles distant—
N. 80 W. 2 ½ to a marshey point passing the arm of the bey ¼ of a mile
wide— [1]    the country to the S. E. appears to be low for a
great distance and is marshey and untimbered for three miles
back, from this point, the eastern point or commencement of
the bay bore N. 15 E. 3 miles.—
N. 60 W. 3 [2] miles passing an inlet [3] of 100 yds. wide at 4 m. to a point of
marshey ground, here an inlet [4] of from 40 to 60 yds. in width
comes in just opposite to the upper point of a shore which we
have heretofore thought and island but which I am now con-
vinced is the main land.    we asscended this stream about 2 m.
it's course being S. 15 E.    we halted near a small cops of tim-
bered land to which we walked and dined 〈after which〉

Sent out three men to examin the country to the S. & W.    they returned after about 2 hours and informed me that the wood was so thick and obstructed by marrasses & lakes that they were unable to proceed to the ocean which could not be at any considerable distance from the apparent sound of the waves breaking on the Coast.    we now returned and asscended the inlet which we had last passd [5]    no fresh appearance of Elk or deer in our rout so far.    asscend the inlet as we intended about 1 m. found it became much smaller and that it did not keep it's direction to the high land which boar S. 10 W. but inclined West.    therefore returned to the large arm of the bay which we passed this morning. [6]    here we expect to meet with the Clât-sop Indians, who have tantilized us with there being much game in their neighbourhood.    this information in fact was the cause of my present resurch, for where there is most game is for us the most eliguble winter station.—    continued our rout up the large arm of the bay about 6 miles and encamped on the Stard. side on the highland. the water was quite sweet.    therefore concluded that it must be supplyed from a large crick.    at our camp it is 120 yds. wide, tho' it gets narrower above. 〈about 2 miles〉    it rained but little on us today tho' it was cloudy generally.—    Wind from N. E.—    saw a great abundance of fowls, brant, large geese, white brant sandhill Cranes, common blue crains, [7] cormarants, haulks, ravens, crows, gulls and a great variety of ducks, the canvas back, duckinmallard, [8] black and white diver, [9] brown duck— &c &c—

 

Some rain and hail with intervales of fair weather for 1 and 2 hours dureing the night and untill 9 oClock this morning at which time it Cleared up fair and the Sun Shown, I Send 5 men in a Canoe in the Deep bend above the Peninsulear to hunt fowles, & 2 men in the thick woods to hunt Elk    had all our wet articles dried & the men all employed dressing their Skins, I observe but few birds in this Countrey of the Small kinds— great numbers of wild fowl, The large Buzzard with white under their wings Grey & Bald eagle large red tailed hawk, ravins, Crows, & a small brown bird which is found about logs &c.    but fiew small hawks or other smaller birds to be seen at this time    Snakes, Lizzards, Snales bugs worms Spiders, flies & insects of different kinds are to be Seen in plenty at this time.    The Squar, gave me a piece of Bread to day made of Some flower She had Cearfully kept for her child, and had unfortunately got wet— The hunters killed only 3 hawks, saw 3 Elk but Could not git a Shot at them, The fowlers, killed 3 black ducks, [11] with white Sharp bills, a brown Spot in their forward, Some white under the tail, which Short, and a fiew of the tips of the wing feathers white, Their toes are long Seperated and flaped, no Craw, keep in emence large flocks in the Shallow waters & feed on Grass &c.—    Several men Complaining of being unwell to day—    a Broock comes in to the bend above the 1st point above, and a river falls in the next nitch above this river is Small,—    I observe rose bushes Pine, a kind of ash [12] a Species of Beech [13] and a Species of Maple, in addition to the pine Lorrel [14] and under groth Common to the woods in this Lower Countrey    the hills are not high & Slope to the river

 

Some rain and hail with intervales of fair weather for the Space of one or two hours at a time dureing the night untill 9 oClock this morning, at which time it Cleared away and the Sun Shewn for [blank] hours, Several men out hunting    I Send 5 men in the bend above to hunt fowl &c. in a Canoe, employ all the others in drying our wet articles by the fire— Several men Complain of a looseness and gripeing [15] which I contribute to the diet, pounded fish mixed with Salt water, I derect that in future that the party mix the pounded fish with fresh water—    The Squar gave me a piece of bread made of flour which She had reserved for her child and carefully Kept untill this time, which has unfortunately got wet, and a little Sour—    this bread I eate with great Satisfaction, it being the only mouthfull I had tasted for Several months past.    my hunters killed three Hawks, which we found fat and delicious, they Saw 3 Elk but Could not get a Shot at them. The fowlers killed 3 black Ducks with Sharp White beeks keep in large flocks & feed on Grass, they have no Craw and their 〈feet〉 toes are Seperate, Comon in the U. States

The Chinnooks Cath lâh mâh & others in this neighbourhood bury their dead in their Canoes. [16]    for this purpose 4 pieces of Split timber are Set erect on end, and sunk a fiew feet in the ground, each brace having their flat Sides opposit to each other and Sufficiently far assunder to admit the width of the Canoe in which the dead are to be deposited; through each of those perpindicular posts, at the hight of 6 feet a mortice is Cut, through which two bars of wood are incerted; on those Cross bars a Small Canoe is placed, in which the body is laid after beaing Carefully roled in a robe of Some dressed Skins; a paddle is also deposited with them; a larger Canoe is now reversed, overlaying and imbracing the Small one, and resting with its gunnals on the Cross bars; one or more large mats of flags or rushes are then rold. around the Canoe and the whole Securely lashed with a long Cord usially made of the bark of the arbar vita or white Cedar.    on the Cross bars which Support the Canoes is frequently hung or laid various articles of Clothing Culinary utensils &c.    we cannot understand them Sufficiently to make any enquiries relitive to their religious opinions, from their depositing Various articles with their dead, beleve in a State of future ixistance.

I walked on the point and observed rose bushes different Species of pine, [NB: Copy for Dr Barton ] [17] a Spcies of ash, alder, a Species of wild Crab Loral and Several Species of under groth Common to this lower part of the Columbia river—    The hills on this Coast rise high and are thickly covered with lofty pine maney of which are 10 & 12 feet through and more than 200 feet high.    hills have a Steep assent.

 

Saturday 30th Nov. 1805. Some of the party killed three ducks.    the after part of the day clear.

 

Saturday 30th.    This was a fair day; and some hunters went round the cape and killed two or three ducks. This is all the supply of fresh provisions, that we have had since we have been at this camp. We live almost altogether on pounded salmon. The whole of the day was fair, pleasant and warm for the season.

 

Saturday Novemr 30th    We had several hard showers of rain, & some hail fell during last night, and this morning after day light it cleared off.    We put a Canoe into the River in order to try & kill some Geese & Ducks, which we saw plenty of, in a bay a small distance above where we are encamped.    We put out our baggage &ca to dry, as they appear'd to be in danger of spoiling by the wetness of the weather.    Our Hunters went out but did not kill any thing but 3 Ducks.    They mentioned of having seen several Elk, but that they were so shy, that they could not get within Rifle Shot of them.—

1. Present Youngs River, Clatsop County, Oregon, nameless on Atlas maps 82, 92; Lewis and Clark's "Kilhowanahkle." The term is Chinookan giławanax̣ł. (back)
2. Lewis has crossed out the following at this point: "5 me to a marshey point at 1½ m." (back)
3. Lewis and Clark River, the captains' "Netul," in Clatsop County, nameless on Atlas maps 82, 92. It is Chinookan nít̓ul. (back)
4. Evidently the present Skipanon River, Clatsop County; "Skip â nor win C" on Atlas maps 82, 84. The name is again Chinookan sqipanawnx. The point mistaken as an island is Point Adams. (back)
5. Apparently Lewis and Clark River. (back)
7. Probably the great blue heron, Ardea herodias [AOU, 194], also called a blue crane in weather remarks for February 13, 1804. See also March 6, 1806. Burroughs, 183–84. (back)
8. Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos [AOU, 132]. (back)
9. Perhaps the bufflehead, Bucephala albeola [AOU, 153], already known to science. See below, March 9, 1806. Ibid., 187–88. Holmgren considers it the western grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis [AOU, 1], on the basis of the word "diver" being an old term for loons and grebes. Personal communication. See mention of other divers on March 10, 1806. (back)
10. The purpose of the asterisk at the end of this line is not known. (back)
11. The American coot, Fulica americana [AOU, 221], and a known species; it is not a duck. See below, March 10, 1805. Burroughs, 224–25. (back)
12. Possibly Oregon ash, then unknown to science. But see February 10, 1806, about the confusion of ash and maple when seeing these deciduous trees without leaves. Little (CIH), 127-W; Cutright LCPN), 409. (back)
13. Clark is again confusing the eastern beech with the red alder; he calls it alder in the second entry. (back)
14. Again perhaps the California rhododendron, as on November 6, 1805. (back)
15. Here indicating a pinching and spasmodic pain in the bowels, along with the "looseness" of diarrhea. (back)
16. In addition to the more common use of burial canoes as described here by Clark, the Chinookan peoples around the mouth of the Columbia River also sometimes placed the dead in boxes. A combination of these methods was employed by the Tillamook Indians of the northern Oregon coast (see Clark's entry for January 8, 1806). The use of burial canoes was a common mortuary practice among native peoples of the Northwest Coast. Ray (LCEN), 74–77; Hajda, 139. (back)
17. The red vertical line drawn through this paragraph may be Biddle's further reminder not to use this passage in his History. (back)